Scientists Find Way to Disrupt Brain Tumor Stem Cells

Scientists have realized in recent years that some cancer cells in glioblastomas and other brain tumors are more resistant to treatment than others. Those same, more defiant cells also are much better at re-establishing cancer after treatment. However, the cancer stem cells’ remarkable abilities have to be maintained, and researchers have identified a key player in that maintenance process. When the process is disrupted, they found, so is the spread of cancer. The findings of the animal study were recently published online in the journal Cell Reports. The researchers identified a protein, known as SOX2, that is active in brain tumor stem cells and in healthy stem cells in other parts of the body. They found that the tumor stem cells’ ability to make SOX2 could be turned up or down via another protein, CDC20. Increasing SOX2 by boosting levels of CDC20 also increased a tumor’s ability to grow once transplanted into mice. Eliminating CDC20, meanwhile, left tumor stem cells unable to make SOX2, reducing the tumor stem cells’ ability to form tumors. When the scientists analyzed human tumor samples, they found that a subset of patients with glioblastomas that had the highest CDC20 levels also had the shortest periods of survival after diagnosis. The researchers are exploring methods to block CDC20 in brain tumors, including RNA interference. That general approach is in clinical trials as a therapy for other cancers, viral infections and other illnesses. To learn more about the study, click here.